Hudson Berkshire Division (HBD) Meeting   5/19/2007

 

Bruce Gilman              Paige Rebeor               Anne Dambrowski

Rod Meagher               Beth Patterson

John O’Mara               Hope Konecny

Kathy Hattala              Karen Gumport

 

1. Officer’s reports

CHAIR (Acting chair)- Vice chair Bruce Gillman

- Just wanted to thank Andy Littlefield for a nice job as chair of the Division.

- Bruce G.: Things went well for the qualifier held at Vassar. The Y14 had to move the date because of a conflict

- Need to make an agenda for scheduling meeting in the fall. Bruce reminded everyone to be careful on choosing dates for club tournaments (check the calendar!).

SECRETARY: John O’Mara needs notes from clubs for a newsletter, also needs a better email list so the division can have an accurate list of all clubs and how many members.

Will request an updated list for USFA, but can only get mailing addresses not email addresses.

TREASURER: Paige Rebeor reported that the Division has $11,316.74 in the bank. The Division made $612 on ????

 

2. Election of new officers

Chair- Bruce Gillman; Vice chair - Beth Patterson; Secretary - John O’Mara; Treasurer - Paige Rebeor. Congrats to all. Officers will assume their duties on August 1.

 

National meeting in Miami- Representative at Board Meeting- meeting usually occurs the 1st  Saturday or Sunday. Bruce will check on the number of reps we can have. Reps are: Beth Patterson and John O’Mara.

 

3. Other business

 

Website

Need a new Webmaster, Anne Dambrowski graciously volunteered. She will get in touch with Andy Littlefield on the details of website.

 

By-law amendment

Text of the amendment is on the website. Currently the rules are that if a club is holding a USFA tournament, then all clubs with HBD equipment have to bring it. The problem here is that not all tournaments need equipment, and that there has not been a lot of notice given if it was needed. Amendment will change this rule to instead of all being obligated for every tournament, a club (tournament host) must notify the secretary two weeks in advance if equipment is needed.

Currently Division equipment is loaned out to: Rod Meagher, Hope Knoecny, John Petro and Mark D.

Amendment was unanimously accepted.

 

Entry fees

Currently fees are at $10 per person per event.

Costs incurred at HBD sponsored tournament include site fees (example: New Paltz High School charged $30 per hour for custodial overtime); Referees should be paid for their work for the day, amount is generally $120.

 

The Division hosts two major events- the  JO qualifiers and the Summer National qualifers (usually a 2day event).

 

Proposal to raise fees to $15 was accepted.

 

Beaches Saber Club proposal

Rod Meagher brought a proposal requesting that the HBD provide monetary support for its most promising athletes. In the past the HBD, has assisted clubs in buying equipment with small grants.

 

There was general consensus that this would be good for the division – but details need to be clear. Discussion followed on what criteria would be needed to select each athlete, so that the process was fair for all division members. Examples were given – for each level Cadet, Juniors and Div1, a points (or percentage) system could work.

 

The suggestion was made to write up a detailed proposal outlining the criteria and selection process. Rod, Hope and John will be on the committee with a deadline date back to the Division by Sept 1.

 

The consensus was that everyone was willing to fund this proposal. The discussion turned to how much the HBD can afford to commit as funding. A motion was made and accepted that one third of the treasury amount at the current time would be committed and made available for this athlete’s fund. This amount ( and fraction of the treasury) will be reviewed on an annual basis.

 

Equipment purchases

 

In the past HBD awarded grants to member clubs to match funds for equipment purchases. Grant applications need to be specific as monetary limits need to be set. John and Paige will summarize what was done in the past and bring a brief written report ( memo) to the executive committee by Sep. 1, so that the HBD can continue this grants program.

 

 

Meeting adjourned.